1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a dairy animal loose-housing barn for keeping dairy animals, and to a method of keeping animals in such a barn.
2. Description of the Related Art
In particular, the invention relates to a dairy animal loose-housing barn for keeping dairy animals, comprising a space where the dairy animals can freely move about and lie down, a light-transmitting roof construction above the space, a wall construction, controllable ventilation means, a floor below the space, comprising a liquid-tight lower layer with, provided thereon, a pourable layer of a moisture absorbing material having a thickness of at least 20 cm, and at least one milking implement on a stationary sub-floor.
From the publication “Grensverleggend huisvesten van vee” (“Accommodating cattle in a ground-breaking manner”), various barn designs are known which comprise all sorts of aspects of the above-mentioned barn, such as a barn having a space where the dairy animals can move about freely, a roof construction and a wall construction, and a milking robot.
In particular, one of the treated aspects is a loose-housing barn comprising a floor, in which case manure and urine produced by the dairy animals are not removed regularly, but are air-dried and are regularly dug in. The dried manure, whether or not partially composted, serves as a ground for the dairy animals. This principle is already applied in loose-housing barns in, for example, Israel, as known from the report “Verdamping uit ligbodems van vrijloopstallen” (“Evaporation from lying grounds of loose-housing barns”), ASG report No. 230 (May 2009).
A disadvantage of this known loose-housing barn, as mentioned in the above-mentioned report, is that the manure in such barns probably dries insufficiently under Dutch climate conditions. This could have all sorts of negative results for the dairy animals, such as strong(er) contamination of the animals, and consequently of the milk, more diseases, claw problems and the like, etcetera.